Good autox/road race tires and brake pads

[kainam00]

Any pad will work alright for your first couple times. Just make sure you're at about 50% or so wear-wise and keep an eye on them throughout the day so you have enough to get home... you *can* drive on the backing plates, but you'll be shopping for new rotors if you do It's good practice to keep some spare pads (old ones you took off your car while changing them work great for this) with you in your track-box.

Upgrades -
* A good pad and some brake cooling ducts are a much better bang for the money than a BBK, especially for track days.
* I wouldn't spend too much money on rotors. "Blank" OEM ones from a quality manufacturer (such as Brembo) work well... I warped probably 3 sets of local-autostore-brand rotors before I spent the extra $10 for Brembos and haven't had a problem since.
* The first thing you have to think about when looking for pads is whether you're willing to swap pads for the track.
** If so, you can get a dedicated noisy/dusty set - Hawk Blue and Pagid Orange are my personal favourites, but there are plenty of good ones out there. Just like tires, watch out for "edgy" race pads that only work in a certain temperature range and give very little notice before they fade completely. Pad manufacturers
usually publish graphs that show you the friction vs. temperature of their pad compounds.
** If not, then you are more limited in choices, but there are some decent compromises. I'm a huge fan of Hawk HPS pads and have had them on multiple cars. They are not as responsive as a race pad and *do* fade, but they are cheap, easy to find, last a long time, and very nice to drive on the street. Hawk HP+ is an aggressive street pad which is much more responsive and resistant to fade, but can be noisy/dusty (seems to vary on different cars).
* The second is how much money you want to spend

Keep in mind that most of my experience comes from Subarus and BMWs, so take it with a grain of salt... that said, Subaru brakes are very similar to DSM.

I'll shut up now...

 

[snowborder714]

I'll hopefully be trailering it to and from the track, so I won't have to worry about excessive tire or brake pad wear from travel. Either that or I just bought a nice big truck for nothing

Brake cooling is on the to do list.
Blanks will probably be the next rotors I get, but this might change if I get some Evo brakes or something.
If I'm willing to have dedicated track tires, I'm willing to swap some brake pads

No need to shut up as long as you're providing good/helpful info. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that are learning from this as well.

 

[kainam00]

I'll hopefully be trailering it to and from the track, so I won't have to worry about excessive tire or brake pad wear from travel. Either that or I just bought a nice big truck for nothing .

It's not so much the wear as much as the discomfort and noise, as far as pads are concerned. To me, nothing is worse than sqeeealing brakes on the street.

Trailering makes a lot of things easier for sure

 

[D_Eclipse9916]

I'll hopefully be trailering it to and from the track, so I won't have to worry about excessive tire or brake pad wear from travel. Either that or I just bought a nice big truck for nothing

Brake cooling is on the to do list.
Blanks will probably be the next rotors I get, but this might change if I get some Evo brakes or something.
If I'm willing to have dedicated track tires, I'm willing to swap some brake pads

No need to shut up as long as you're providing good/helpful info. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there that are learning from this as well.

I advise extremely that you buy a set of front dedicated race pads. Axxis will be fine in the rear.

I burned through an entire set of axxis metal masters in two sessions. We have big ass heavy cars with lots of power. That said, a more track pad will last a LOT longer. HP+, Blues (they will literally eat your paint finish) are good options.

Also look seriously into DTC-60s or if they make em for our stock cars...PFC06, my new favorite long lasting, great track pad that I use currently.

 

[snowborder714]

Do you think the Axxis will last through at least one event? My car is on the lighter side (2900 lbs with me and a good amount of gas) and it's not that powerful. I'm not opposed to spending the money on a good set, but would rather use what I have first.

It looks like these are the Hawk choices I have that'd be suitable for racing.
Blue 9012
HT-10
HP Plus

 

[kainam00]

I'm not opposed to spending the money on a good set, but would rather use what I have first.

Probably the wisest thing ever

If I were in your situation what I would do is buy a higher performance set and take it with me to the track. Leave the Axxis on there to use up, but have a spare set just in case, especially since you'll be buying them at some point either way.

 

[UnsafeAtAnySpd]

No experience on the track yet with my Talon, but I run HP+/HPS (front/rear) on the street and track with my CTS-V. I think the HP+ is about as good as you can get without having to swap pads for the track if you don't end up wanting to do that.

 

[Scott McIntyre]

HP Plus are street pads. They work good for the rear brakes, but I doubt you'd get more than a couple hot laps out of them on the front before experiencing brake fade.

I've tried just about every street pad going on the road course with my Talon, and didn't have any sucess until I switched to a true "race" pad, like Hawk Blue or Porterfield R4-E. Even those pads suffered somewhat on my full weight Talon w/ stock brakes, but they allowed me to run full sessions.

Although I've never tried them, my best advice to you would be to get a set of Hawk DTC-70 front and DTC-60 rear pads, and swap them in/out at the track. Perhaps take it one step further and get an extra set of rotors dedicated to those pads so you don't have to bed them in each time. Just swap the rotors along with the pads. That's where I was heading before I got a TCE kit.

 

[snowborder714]

Scott, I went to Hawk's site and looked by vehicle and the ones I listed above were the only ones they showed. Maybe I need to call them to see if they have the DTC-70/DTC-60's available?

 

[Scott McIntyre]

Ah yes, sorry about that.

I know some companies can make up a custom set for you. Not sure about Hawk. Worth a try.

 

[snowborder714]

Blue 9012 and HP-10 for front and HP Plus for rear is the most aggressive compounds they offer for a 2g. I asked about custom pads, but was told they typically need a 30-40 set order.

I'll have to check out what Porterfield has to offer. I get a decent discount on either of the brands, which is a plus

 

[D_Eclipse9916]

Blue 9012 and HP-10 for front and HP Plus for rear is the most aggressive compounds they offer for a 2g. I asked about custom pads, but was told they typically need a 30-40 set order.

I'll have to check out what Porterfield has to offer. I get a decent discount on either of the brands, which is a plus

Check Performance Friction too

 

[UnsafeAtAnySpd]

HP Plus are street pads. They work good for the rear brakes, but I doubt you'd get more than a couple hot laps out of them on the front before experiencing brake fade.

I've tried just about every street pad going on the road course with my Talon, and didn't have any sucess until I switched to a true "race" pad, like Hawk Blue or Porterfield R4-E. Even those pads suffered somewhat on my full weight Talon w/ stock brakes, but they allowed me to run full sessions.

Although I've never tried them, my best advice to you would be to get a set of Hawk DTC-70 front and DTC-60 rear pads, and swap them in/out at the track. Perhaps take it one step further and get an extra set of rotors dedicated to those pads so you don't have to bed them in each time. Just swap the rotors along with the pads. That's where I was heading before I got a TCE kit.

Yeah, I wasn't saying that the +s are THAT great, just that I wouldn't use anything better on the street as I think they're about the limit. That said, I get little to no fade even on street tires even with a 3850 lb car. Granted we're talking a completely different rotor/caliper setup though...

 

[everbruin]

ran hawk blue and ht10 on my m3; i think ht10 is higher temp. both stop fine cold/on street but dust/squeal a lot like most race pads. carbotech ax6/panther+ was good for tracking my 2g.

 

[Scott McIntyre]

At some point I'm gonna try Carbotech AX6 (front & rear) for street / autox, and Carbotech XP16 (front) and XP12 (rear) for the track. I've heard / read a lot of good things about their pads. Pricey though, especially if you follow their advise to replace (or resurface) the rotors before installing the Carbotech brake pads; presuming you've had another manufacturers brake pads on those same rotors.

 

[everbruin]

i don't think i changed or resurfaced rotors; seemed fine. i prefer hawk race pads as they seem to bite quicker when cold/on street and cost less

 

[snowborder714]

So, good brake pad manufacturers to look into:
-Hawk
-Porterfield
-Performance Friction
-Carbotech

I have heard good things about the Carbotech pads as well, so something else to keep in mind when I need new ones. I like options


FYI, I changed the title so that all this good brake pad talk isn't off topic

 

[360glitch]

Direzza's are awesome, go for the Star Specs.

 

[housegsx]

Brian, my wheels are 17x8 with 40mm bs. I have 245/40 with no issues. I don't know how low your car will be, but fitment should be fine with that size. I wouldn't bother going any wider on an 8 inch wheel. You might rub the lip on the rear depending on alignment and stiffness, but that's about it.

Also, if you go with Porterfield pads look at Brakes, Suspension, and Safety - LPI Racing They seemed to have good pricing when I ordered mine a while ago.

 

[snowborder714]

Thanks for the info Erik. I am definitely leaning towards a 245 tire. I'm not sure how low my car will be either, but it will be a bit higher than it is now. I can't wait to build the new suspension

I do want to go with a 9" wide wheel at some point in the future though. We'll see how these ones work for now though.

Thanks for the link!

 

[housegsx]

No prob.

I can't wait to build the new suspension

PS, I'm a lazy bastard and haven't spoke to my neighbor yet. I WILL when I see him this week.

 

[Poloturbo]

I swear by Carbotech pads now. The best pads I've found, I did tried:

Hawk
Porterfield
Pagid
PF

It is the best brand for the least abrasive dust even when more of 1200F.

Ive literally wasted some nice new wheels with Porterfield R4-E and a good rain. The dust welded on the wheels with the rain and hot temperature formind a small paste IMPOSSIBLE to remove, and when I say impossible the wheels were redone completely...


I didn't like the Hankook RS-2, soft sidewall, cheap and they feel it.
Dunlop SS and XS are much better...
Like a lot the Advan A032R for track days.... and RA-1

 

[Flash]

I just bought some Michelin PS Cup's, I'm interested to see how they are.

 

[ttetzner]

definitely check out summit, they have pairs of dimpled vented and slotted rotors that come with ceramic brake pads for 129 shipped.same price for the rear. I've had them for 8 months and they are a huge improvement over stock and look sick.

 

[D_Eclipse9916]

definitely check out summit, they have pairs of dimpled vented and slotted rotors that come with ceramic brake pads for 129 shipped.same price for the rear. I've had them for 8 months and they are a huge improvement over stock and look sick.

......... This is the track forum.

Thanks for the thought tho!

Anywhos, the only issue I had with HT-10s in my friends wrx was the rivets came way into the pad, effectively reducing their life by a quarter, he was hugely pissed.

And rotors are so cheap, just buy a few extra sets. It also comes in handy if you crack a rotor halfway through your weekend. I have 3 sets of f+r blank rotors for my m3, takes another half second to pull the rotors so why not so you can get the best break-in on both your street and race pads.